He finished that game 5-for-10 from the line. To put that into perspective, Chukwu was 1-for-6 from the free throw line coming into the Kansas-Syracuse contest. In his brief 13-game career with the Orange, he had been 1-for-15 from the line.

Kansas, likely cognizant of Chukwu's free throw history, put him on the line 10 times Saturday.

"In the beginning, they started leaving the middle open," Chukwu said. "The ball wasn't really getting in there that much. But then, they saw my foul shot and basically they thought 'just foul the big guy.' And I was able to make a couple foul shots."

Chukwu was a 60 percent free throw shooter during his one and only season at Providence. SU assistant coach Allen Griffin has said Chukwu shoots free throws fairly well during Orange practices; he just needed to see some success during games to fuel his confidence.

As the Kansas game wore on, Frank Howard and Chukwu attempted to work the pick and roll with mixed results. Chukwu missed a couple dunks at the rim, but he also drew a few fouls.

At 7-foot-2, he is a big, tantalizing target in there and Howard has the ability to find him off the pick and roll. According to Hoop-math.com, Chukwu has taken 87.5 percent of his shots at the rim and is making 81 percent of his chances there. None of his teammates are as good at the rim. (Bourama Sidibe, at 71 percent, is SU's next best option.)

If Saturday is any indication, Chukwu might be coming around at the free throw line, making him all the more alluring in the low post. In a single game, he improved his free throw shooting from 1-of-6 (.167) to 6-of-16 (.375).

"I thought Paschal got going a little bit," SU coach Jim Boeheim said. "We utilized him a little bit better in the second half. In our other games we really didn't have to utilize him that much. Today, we learned that we can utilize him and that's important for us."

Chukwu's performance, too, becomes more important for two reasons:

The Orange has struggled to make perimeter shots. And Sidibe has looming and lingering knee trouble.

SU is shooting 27.7 percent from the 3-point line. Taking a vast volume of deep perimeter shots at this point seems like an unwise proposition. No Syracuse player is shooting better than 33 percent from the 3-point line (Howard is at .323).

Sidibe, the freshman center, said after Saturday's game that his knee remains sore; he played 17 minutes in the loss to Kansas and at one point hobbled off the floor when Boeheim indicated to game officials that Sidibe was hurt.